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Last Sunday a group of us took advantage of the free admission weekend to several museums and buildings in Lille and decided to pay a visit to the Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille. It was really exciting to enter it as I've waked past, admired and even taken photos in front of this palace countless times since I've been in Lille but I never really knew what it was. It's hard to land in a fresh, new city and absorb it all. I feel like I've seen so much already but also almost nothing at all. There are so many museums in the Nord that I've yet to see!

The interior of the museum and its architecture is absolutely beautiful. It houses a variety of paintings and sculptures, as well as a stunning exposition by Antony Gormley and Wolfgang Laib. I do have to admit that I'm not nearly as educated in art as I'd like to be but I'm excited to be in a country where so many historic and beautiful art pieces are at my fingertips. I think I'll pick up an art book or two before I hit up the next museum to better appreciate what is presented before me.

I hesitated to take many photos as I'm used to not being allowed to take photos in museums, however I later discovered that non-flash photography was permitted and so I snapped some bits and pieces.

It is actually the largest museum in France outside of Paris! It's so amazing to be able to live so close to it and walk past it every week. It is in central Lille, right in front of the metro station my friends and I get off at on weekends to go out to bars or clubs. It's even more stunning at night, believe it or not! Almost every day I get to explore more and more of my city's gems, and more and more do I fall in love with Lille.

Hallo lezers!
Last Saturday I had the amazing opportunity of getting to spend the day in Amsterdam! Myself and a group of friends were able to get a roundtrip bus for only 25€ and I think it was honestly my favourite city I've ever visited. I know it's very early into my exchange but I definitely am making plans to go back! We woke up at 4 am, hopped on our bus at 6 for a 3 hour journey to Amsterdam and had 10 hours to roam free and explore. We had breakfast at a cute little restaurant by a canal and it was so beautiful. Amsterdam seems like a whole different world. What really intrigued me was how many bicycles there were! I had seen a youtube video in the past about Amsterdam and its bikes but it was so crazy to actually see it in person. We were told that bikes had the right of way and pedestrians had to be careful as cyclists don't break for anyone, and it was very hard to break our normal habits. We cause a lot of ruckus accidentally. By instinct, we always checked the road for cars before we crossed but always managed to see through the bikes and then scurry away saying "sorry! sorry! sorry!" The system really is amazing though. There were more bikes than cars. Bikes were parked in every available fence, bridge, post, tree...anywhere a bike could be leaned against. It's just so efficient and healthy and great for the environment! Hopefully more cities can eventually adapt this system.

We walked through the beautiful flower market and I wanted to buy tulip bulbs however they need to be planted in October and I won't be home until May. I really enjoyed not having an itinerary and just seeing where our feet took us. We of course made effort to find the I Amsterdam letters in Museumplein and walked past the Van Gogh museum. We decided to save museums for the next trip and Van Gogh is definitely one I'd like to see in the future!

Amsterdam was just a very cute city, there was always something interesting to look at at every corner and I tried to capture as much as I could. We did go see the red light district, however because our bus back left at 8 we didn't quite get to see it at night and so I think we definitely didn't get the full experience but it was still an interesting street to walk through.

I think the photos speak for themselves and I'm very glad I remembered to bring my camera and so these photos are thankfully not from my iPhone and I'm really happy with how they turned out!

We have no set plans about our next trip but we are currently in talks about going to Disneyland, Bruges or Paris...Let's see where life take me next!

That's two off the bucket list! The Braderie de Lille took place last weekend and it was an amazing event to top off my second week here in France. I had heard that it was a big deal in Europe, and that thousands of people came to Lille just to see it but I didn't expect it to be as huge as it turned out to be! The same streets I had ventured through alone on my second day were absolutely filled with people and vendors and it was just a lot to take in coming out of the train station.

I had so much fun looking at the different stands and managed to snag myself 2 pairs of shoes, 2 dresses, 3 tops, 4 pairs of tights, a hat, and my most exciting purchase: a pillow for 5€. That's right world, I can now toss aside my rolled up Mac sweater and rest my head peacefully on a real pillow. It really was my favourite purchase.

I also, for the first time in my entire life, ate mussels. This was such a hard thing for me but I'm trying to have this "YOU'RE IN EUROPE, DO IT FOR EUROPE" attitude about things I would normally pass up and eating mussels is a prime example. Mussels are the traditional dish of the Braderie and just about every restaurant that would on any other day serve french or northern cuisine had enormous banners advertising the special dish. Ordering it was definitely the easiest part, "Je voulais les moules et frites svp" however as soon as they were presented before me and I realized I had to consume them...oh boy. It helped that Angela liked them and promised me they were good and so I eventually stopped staring at the ugly sea creature and put one in my mouth. Then two, three, four and next thing I knew I had eaten them all. I was so proud of myself!!! Next up is escagots!!!

On Sunday we had dinner at the traditional Flam's restaurant, which serves pies of the north. In my north american eyes, this pie resembled a very thin crust pizza, but with waaaay better cheese than we could ever find in our continent. Of course, accompanied by a locally crafted beer. There are so many from this northern region that I can probably taste a different one every night we go out! Beer lovers dream!

We spend the afternoons wandering aimlessly through the packed city streets, checking out as many vendors as we possibly could. I think I saw more of the city in those 2 days than my past two weeks here all together. I was so excited to find a street vendor that sold me Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and Alice in Wonderland for 0.50€ each! Can't wait to read two of my classic favourites in french!

Overall it was just such a great weekend and the Braderie surpassed all of my previous expectations and if you ever happen to be in France for the first weekend of September be sure to hop on a train and head north to Lille, I promise it will be worth the trip.

I'm currently having major struggles in the computer lab at my school. I'm probably typing like 10 wpm as these keyboards aren't QWERTY!!! It's actually so difficult. I have to press shift to use a period and the apostrophe is in the number 4 key and I may just give up on this post.

My school is kind of very disorganized in its communication and I got an email that my french class started at 3:30 only to arrive and be told it was a mistake and that it actually starts at 5. BUT that hardly bothered me as I found out I got placed in advanced french and I am so so happy! That's all I wanted!

This a sort of very brief entry as I kill time before class but tonight I will post a massive, photo-filled post all about my adventures at La Braderie de Lille! It was absolutely crazy filled with people and I found so many great sales that i'm seriously considering filming a haul video! Should I? Let me know!

Angela finally arrived!! First thing we did was a much needed trip to Carrefour, the grocery store, and I stopped by a local bakery to buy my very first baguette!!! It was literally fresh off the oven and only 0.80 cents!! I'm all ready to have a fabulous breakfast tomorrow. It's technically the first whole baguette i've bought myself, however the past week i've been eating out a lot and have consumed various baguette sandwiches. I'm so ready to gain 20 pounds.
We had dinner at a little bistro type restaurant in the city center. I opted for a tuna baguette and it was really good HOWEVER, the whole experience was so embarrassing and hilarious. When the waitress first brought them to us we ate them with our hands like we're used to in Canada, but then I noticed we were given a fork, knife and a cutting board and we were like WAIT should we be cutting this up???? what do we even use the fork for??? We literally felt so confused and embarrassed and uncultured. To help, we were the only ones eating a baguette and so we had no one to look over at for reference. Angela actually managed to cut hers decently but mine just looked like a disaster and I had tuna falling all over the place...I didn't know if it was better to keep making a mess out of slicing it or just give up and eat it with my hands. SIGH. It was all just really amusing to us in the end. We lived. I feel like a lot of instances like these are bound to happen in the next coming weeks as we try and adapt to this new culture.

We then just took it upon ourselves to walk around, map-less, and explored as many roads as we could. We would just take a peak at streets and be like "ooooh that looks so pretty let's walk that way" and through that very reliable and strategic system we did a decent amount of exploring and were actually able to find our way back to the start! The city is so beautiful! I feel like there is still so much for us too see and go do! I can't wait to do it all!!

I feel as if my last post was filled with a lot of information and a lack of pictures (which I personally find essential in a good blog post). So i'm making this post to throw a mixed variety of iPhone photos i've taken in the week i've been in France. In all honesty, as I looked through my phone I realized I really haven't taken many photos at all. Or at least not enough of one day's activities to dedicate an entire post on. I will hereby make more of an effort to do so and actually remember to put my camera in my bag--in fact i'm going to do that right now!! I think a big reason as to why i've not been snapping away at every second is because I know i'll be here for 10 months and so i'm all "i'll have plenty of time to take photos" blah blah. I notice all my posts have had excuses in them. I'll make an effort to stop that. Ha.

I've met so many people! Even more since the last time I've posted. I'm actually pretty impressed with the Welcome Week plans my school has organized which included a city bus tour, parties, a football tournament (that i partook in!), and a dinner at a restaurant. The welcoming committee will also be organizing trips to Brussels and Amsterdam which i'll be more than happy to attend if it works with my calendar. I finally got my metro pass today so I can take all modes of public transport as I please until June! Tomorrow Angelique arrives and i'm so excited! There's so many things to show her and many more that I have yet to explore myself. This weekend is the Braderie de Lille market and it's supposed to be one of the biggest and most well-known events in Europe and i'm stoked to be living so near it!

luanalune

WHO?

Hey! I'm Lu—a twenty-three year old Brazilian.. Just trying to explore as much of this tiny speck in the universe as I possible can. I'm a lover of leather jackets, matte lipstick, and a good croissant.